Pursuing Human Rights through Public Diplomacy

The latest issue of PDis available. PD is a bi-annual magazine that focuses on one particular subject area in each issue. The theme this time around is “Pursuing Human Rights Through Public Diplomacy“, a complex area not often explored by public diplomacy researchers. As the editors note, “Nonstate actors [in the area of human rights] do not necessarily consider themselves public diplomacy practitioners, and thus are not always aware of the public diplomacy power they wield.”

With few exceptions, Congressional interest in empowering civilian public diplomacy comes, not from the House Foreign Affairs or Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but from members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. For example, both Congressmen Thornberry and Smith are on the Armed Services Committee and neither are on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Carnahan is on the International Organizations subcommittee of the Foreign Affairs Committee. A notable exception is Senator Richard Lugar (D-IN), who is an active proponent of public diplomacy but not on an Armed Services Committee. Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE), increasingly active in public diplomacy, sits on both the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senators Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Jim Webb (D-VA) are the only other members, House or Senate, to sit on both committees.

The institutions and practices of America’s engagement are changing. Perhaps this change would come faster if the State Department and its relevant Congressional Committees pushed as hard as the military.